Fire briefly closes Shirlene's

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, February 12, 2007

Shirlenes Cuisine was evacuated briefly Monday morning when an electrical shortage caused a small fire at the Wackerly Street restaurant.

"Im just thankful nobody was hurt. There was a fast reaction by everybody," said owner Darlene Klemkosky. The restaurant was back open for business this morning.

The restaurants staff was preparing for lunch when grease underneath the gas stoves top caught fire. The fire then went up the sides of the stove, said manager Mary Klemkosky.

Chris Coughlin, Midland Countys fire marshal, said an electrical shortage in the oven/range combination ignited grease. He said damage was minor, and that the appliance might even be repairable.

Darlene Klemkosky said she plans to replace the stove.

"Im not going to take that chance," she said.

The staff was allowed back in, although the kitchen remained off limits as several firefighters looked over the stove. A smell of gas came from the area.

The tables still were set with silverware and coffee cups at each place as several restaurant employees sat to smoke and calm their nerves. An occasional customer walked in, only to be turned away.

"My hearts going 100 miles per hour," Mary Klemkosky said to a co-worker.

"I had the soups on. All of the sudden, the flames started going higher," cook Mark Linton added.

David Kawiecki put out the fire before the fire department got there.

"I just got the extinguisher and put the fire out," he said. He added that he got "sort of shocked" but wasnt hurt.

Hostess Angela Selewski said she helped make sure everybody got out safely. By coincidence, her husband was driving by and stopped to make sure she was safe.

"Everybody was calm," she said of the evacuation.

Mary Klemkosky had hoped to be open by lunch Monday, but no such luck.

"They wont be open until the premise is clean and electrical repairs are made," Coughlin said.

Darlene Klemkosky was working on that late Monday afternoon. Timbertown Cleaning and Restoration was cleaning, and she expected to be there until at least 10 p.m. making sure everything else was good to go.

"I still have the jitters, waiting to get everything done. I dont want to lose customers," she said. "Im thankful when any customer walks in that door."